Breaking Rules
by whenheroesfall
Summary: When light and dark meld as one the surface realm will be in subtle war as the veil lifts. A daughter will be born of noble blood and gifted by the Goddess with powers that succeed her forgotten predecessors. This story breaks all the rules from the past.
1. Chapter 1

**Message from Chrissy: **so this is the first post for "Breaking Rules" and I expect much criticism, etc. etc. I had to fudge a few facts, I did the best I could on years, don't bash that, considering that when the books were written they all only aged about a year or so in the process of 4 real years, so I guessed. -shrug-. Also, grammar is not my thing, i try but punctuation constantly throws me. I do proofread, but it makes sense to me. Consider my bad grammar to be some deep and personal contribution to my narrator, if that makes you feel better.

**Disclaimer / Rating: **the reason this is rated T for Teen is not necessarily because of what is in this first chapter, but rather where it could go, possibly, I haven't decided yet, but it could get to Teen, language wise at least. We'll just have to wait and see on that one. Other than that, DOTM is not mine, and 90 percent of the characters / rules / etc in this fic will be made up. All the rules are getting thrown out the window in this one just so you know, the rules have changed.

But now, the story.

--

_When light and dark meld as one, the surface realm will be in subtle war as the veil lifts. A daughter will be born of noble blood and gifted by the Goddess with powers that succeed her forgotten predecessors. But this line of Fate has yet to be drawn and the shadow vanquished has once more grown. The Atrox has returned to reclaim its title and only one stands in the way._

Kyra stared out of the window on the airplane, unable to distract herself even by the view of the cities and land below. Her cheeks were stained with tears as she flew through an endless sea of clouds on her way to Glendale, California, a place she had visited many times to see her family and stay with them over many summers, a place she had grown to love as her own. A voice came over the intercom, they would be landing within the next hour and all passengers were advised to let the attendants begin to prepare for the arrival into Los Angeles. Kyra tore her gaze away from the sun lit clouds and was suddenly overcome with emotion. Her grandmother had died, her mother along with her. Kyra would have been dead too, if not for the bad weather coming out of Florida. Kyra's father was already awaiting his daughter's arrival in the airport; he had been in Pasadena on business when _it_ happened, she hadn't spoken to him since the accident, no call, no e-mail, no nothing, it unnerved her even more.

_Murdered_.

The word echoed in her mind, screaming and tearing through the walls she had begun to put up. They had been coming out from a restaurant and were killed, shot, but no one was caught or charged. Kyra's uncle Andrew broke the news to her and, mentally, she collapsed. She hadn't spoken in days, unable to make words come out of her throat, only tears made their way from her eyes. "_Five minutes until landing, please fasten your seatbelts and put your chairs in their upright positions, thank you, we hope you enjoyed your flight"_ the voice said over the intercom, personable as expected, but cold at the same time.

Jeffery Adams paced across the airport floor. He had been restless since the news of his wife and his mother-in-law's deaths reached his ears. He was a sight to see, frantically running a hand through his frazzled chestnut hair, crumpled clothes that had been shoved tightly in a suitcase and bloodshot eyes that were a mixture of both sleep deprivation and constant tears. His life had been perfect. He had the perfect wife, the wonderful daughter, an amazing brother-in-law, and a mother-in-law that he got along with wonderfully. How could this have all changed so quickly?

"Dad?" a small voice managed to choke out, hoarse and strained, "Dad," it repeated louder, her throat closing up as the child ran to him. Kyra began to sob uncontrollably, despite her best efforts, and her dad just held her, saying nothing, not a comforting 'hello' or 'everything is okay' because in the real world, nothing was ever okay, a lesson that Kyra had learned at a young age. Life could be great, life could be amazing, but somewhere, something was going wrong. Her father wrote about it constantly, a columnist for a national paper based out of Florida; he always got the stories that broke your heart.

Andrew, Kyra's uncle, arrived a moment later with their baggage. Her uncle, usually a very upbeat happy person, had been extremely quiet ever since his sister's death had been brought to his attention. When he heard his mother had died as well, he became numb; there was just no other way to put it. He put a hand on Jeffery's shoulder and attempted to speak, "The car's outside" he managed to get out, not looking either of the two in their eyes, and with that he walked out. It was scary to see him act that way, it made Kyra's stomach turn.

The funeral was not small. Kyra could barely begin to guess how many people had shown up to pay their respects, maybe near a hundred. Everyone had gone by now, back to her grandfather's house for the reception, but Kyra had asked to stay behind. There was no argument from her father or her uncle. Her grandfather, however, protested, wishing she wouldn't be out alone, but she reassured him that she would not be out to late. She sat between the coffins and the tombstones, the coffins still up for display. Not until she left would they are subjected to going underground. Her pale fingers traced the letters of her mother's name, _Elisha_, Kyra said softly in her head, _Elisha Marie Adams_, _beloved wife and mother, never will she be forgotten, 2008 – 2047_. Below the etchings was a single rounded picture of her mother, caught off guard with a candid expression of happiness, it was Kyra's favorite. Kyra was always jealous of her mother's looks, she had light brown, nearly blonde, hair that lay in curls to her shoulders, matched with blindingly perfect white teeth and piercing blue eyes, she was, without a doubt, a knock-out while Kyra was, well, not.

Kyra shifted over, tears welling up in her eyes, to her beloved grandmother's tombstone. Her grandmother, even at old age, was obviously gorgeous, almost surreal looking in her picture. Kyra and her grandmother had gotten along extremely well, they were both hopeless romantics and loved the same foods, and most importantly, Kyra knew that something was special about her grandmother, that something always made her feel safe and like she would always be watched over. "_Heart of hearts, soul of souls, never shall you truly die, for love will keep you alive"_ was etched onto the tombstone. Kyra repeated it aloud, the words filling her with emotions she couldn't even describe. "_Here lies Vanessa Saratoga, grandmother, mother, wife, daughter, 1984 -2047." _

--


	2. Chapter 2

**Message from Chrissy: **sorry for the ridiculously long time for the next chapter, I had ideas in mind, couldn't decide where to go, and then I had to factor in school. But school is over, so I should have some more time on my hands, minus the time I already sold to my employer. I would like to reiterate my distaste for proper grammar, not my thing. I try, i just don't succeed very well. -shrug- have fun!

**Disclaimer / Rating:** this is rated T for Teen because it may contain inappropriate language / actions that someone not in high school should read. I say, "may contain" because I am writing this disclaimer before writing this next chapter. DOTM is not mine, 90 percent of the characters / rules / etc in this fic will be made up. Keep in mind, the rules are different, the world has changed, what I say, goes!

To continue the story…

--_  
_  
Two months passed and life was beginning to resume a degree of normalcy for Kyra. She and her father had moved into a new house only about a mile from where her grandfather lived. Kyra spent a lot of time during that month at the old house, sifting through her grandmother's mounds of old clothes, jewelry, and other trinkets. They had always shared the same tastes, even despite the generation gap.

It was August now. Kyra was officially enrolled to start in La Brea High School, a daunting school that had obviously seen better days. It was a construction site – new buildings, new staff, new everything. Of course, they tried to preserve what they could, it was interesting to see how the school had changed over the last fifty or so years it had been around. But it was Kyra's last year in high school, she wanted to spend it somewhere familiar, not in a new school, in a new city, on the other side of the country.

It was her last day of freedom, or so she made it seem. The past couple of months had changed everything and everyone. She and her father had pretty much stopped talking, he took more work that sent him on trips so he was rarely home. He was the most obvious one affected by the tragedy, the only one who didn't try to move on. Her uncle moved to New York City to be a guest lecturer for a semester, he was unable to move on when he was constantly reminded of his loss with the presence of his father and niece; he took the job as an escape.

Kyra had been left distracted, lost. She had almost forgotten that her birthday was in a week. She would finally be eighteen, a milestone most people spend months planning how to celebrate. But in the past two months, Kyra had made few friends, not because she couldn't, she just didn't try. She had picked up the habit of people watching, something she had grown to enjoy. It was her way of attaching herself to society without actually becoming an active participant. Her spot of choice for people watching was a dinky local bookstore that was on the corner of Sunset and Trinity. While every other store in the area was trendy and overpriced, Ink Set Bookstore, with its dark lighting and peculiar crowd, definitely stood out from its Abercrombie and designer neighbors.

Today was like any other day, Kyra had woken up to an empty house and had her ritual bowl of Lucky Charms and skimmed through the local section of the paper. After she finished the last of the mushy marshmallows, she got up and dumped the extra cereal and milk into the sink and ran it through the disposal. She had taken to not finishing any meal, her father, the few times he was home, suspected she had an eating disorder, that she was wallowing in depression. Yes, she may have been wallowing, but she did not have an eating disorder, but still her father had scheduled her to see a therapist once a week, Tuesday at noon.

She glanced at the clock and sighed, she would be late, like every other week. It was a good ten-minute walk to Dr. Richen's office, and it was already 11:55. Kyra wasn't usually one to sleep in, but lately she had been having nightmares and she could never fall back asleep right away. Disturbing images plagued her dreams, people with melting, half decomposed faces, being hunted; she was becoming paranoid of the smallest things. Shadows seemed to follow her everywhere she went, she began to feel as if she was being watched, which was silly, she didn't even know anyone well enough to have a stalker.

Kyra quickly slipped on some clothes, a simple outfit of jeans and a tye dye t-shirt and a pair of flip-flops. Kyra enjoyed being forgotten, not standing out, at least while she was the girl with the dead mother she enjoyed her solidarity. She used it as a way of escaping peoples glances, the few who saw Kyra and knew her grandmother only looked at her with pity, it was disgusting. Kyra looked at herself in the mirror and wished that she looked more like her beautiful mother. Instead of a beautiful frame and blonde curls and clear blue eyes, Kyra had straight brown hair and eyes a color of between blue and brown, _not very striking at all_.

--

"Your late," the annoying secretary, Gertrude Stuther, said as Kyra walked through the oak double doors into the office.

"Miss me Gerty?" Kyra teased back. Kyra hated that snappy old woman and her unevenly drawn on eyebrows. Gerty pressed the intercom button and informed the doctor that Kyra had arrived.

"You can go in, Miss Adams," the red haired woman said with an attitude that would have made a nun want to hit her.

Kyra just nodded and walked past the dragon lady into Dr. Richen's office. The office smelled of coffee and Lysol, with just a hint of febreeze. "Sorry I'm late Doc," Kyra said with a smile as she dropped down onto the long leather sofa. Despite how much she thought coming to therapy was a waste of time and money, she couldn't help but enjoy the sessions. Most of the time they talked about current events, Kyra didn't like talking about anything "deep" and avoided all issues that would make her uncomfortable, and of course Dr. Richen knew this.

"It's becoming habit, Kyra," he said quickly, returning her smile with his own dazzling grin. He couldn't have been more than twenty-five years old and he was sure the kind of guy that Kyra enjoyed looking at. Physically he wasn't her type, she preferred the guys with piercings and tattoos, the rebel, but she could also be attracted to the obscenely gorgeous, should be a model instead of a therapist guy, right? "So how are we doing today?"

"I don't know how _we _are doing," Kyra said mockingly, "but _I_ am doing just dandy."

"That's good to hear. Want to tell me why you were late?"

"Overslept, had a bad dream and couldn't get to sleep,"

"What was it?" Dr. Richen asked carefully, from the look in his eye you could tell he was hoping Kyra would reveal some deep dark secret or something.

Kyra hesitated, she shouldn't have mentioned the nightmare, therapists seemed to have a tendency to look too much into something. "I don't remember all of it," she said cautiously, hoping to throw him off of her track.

"Well, what do you remember from it?"

"I was walking home from a club…I think I was dressed like I was going to a club. I don't know why I was walking home, it was really far…" Kyra closed her eyes to try and reimagine it. She had looked different, glittery makeup, lighter hair, she wasn't even sure if it was _her_ she was seeing. "Anyways, I was walking home, but I think I was being followed… my feet were bleeding and I ended up running home," Kyra thought for a moment and opened her eyes. She looked past Dr. Richen and out onto the beautiful view of the beach he had outside of his window.

"I went into my house, well, not _my _house but in my dream it was mine… and someone, some_thing_ attacked me. It was as if it came from the shadows. It was suffocating me" Kyra trailed off before she glanced back at Dr. Richen, "then I woke up."


	3. Chapter 3

**Message from Chrissy: **mmmmkay. So now you want the third chapter? Okay, here it goes. I have little more to say right now so I'll just get to the obligatory disclaimer.

**Disclaimer / Rating:** this is rated T for Teen because it may contain inappropriate language / actions that someone not in high school should read. I say, "may contain" because I am writing this disclaimer before writing this next chapter. DOTM is not mine, 90 percent of the characters / rules / etc in this fic will be made up. Keep in mind, the rules are different, the world has changed, what I say, goes! I do not own DOTM; all the characters (minus key ones) are fictional. So no, Kyra is not based on someone I know or myself, she is a figment of my imagination who I am having trouble deciding how to deal with. Oh. _Please forgive any and all grammatical errors, grammar is not my thing. It is Jenn's._

Now for part three…

--_  
_

Kyra sat in front of Ink Set Bookstore sipping her poorly made coffee. _Teach me to buy overpriced coffee ever again…_ Her hour at the therapist hadn't gotten much progress, minus a sentence or two on what her nightmare meant (apparently she was suffocating from to many social encounters, what a joke!). Tomorrow she would have to register for her classes and the rest of the week she would spend trying not to hop on the first plane back to Florida to avoid the first day of school. She decided she would enjoy the day to the fullest.

She pulled out a battered notebook and flipped to the first page with space on it. Her therapist recommended that when she people watched she kept a log of thoughts, so she did. She sat back, pen in hand and propped her notebook on her lap, waiting for something to stand out. A couple was fighting, nothing unusual on trendy street; no girl seemed to have a steady boyfriend. Kyra scribbled random thoughts down, '_why is it so easy for them to just kiss and make up?' 'Doesn't she get that in five minutes he's going to walk away off with Mary-Sue over there and play the same game?'_ Dr. Richen said she was becoming a cynic, which wasn't true. She wasn't becoming a cynic, she was a cynic.

She had a reason for being cynical, and this reason was named Reese, Reese Taylor to be exact. His name rang in her ears like a soundtrack on repeat. He was her boyfriend before her mother's death. They had fun, he was the goofy skater guy every girl secretly wanted to get locked in the janitor's closet with but would never actually admit to liking. He had messy sun bleached hair and a nice tan, to bad he wasn't as smart as he was gorgeous. They had been together for about seven months when he started to pressure her. When she wouldn't give him what he wanted, he simply got it elsewhere. That last part didn't float with Kyra to well so when she went to surprise him, she was the one who was surprised. Needless to say it ended right ten and there, with the blonde in the bed as witness.

Three weeks later, Kyra was on a plane to California.

"Whatcha doing?" a peppy voiced asked, causing Kyra to jump a little in her chair, sending her notebook to the floor, "oops! Didn't mean to scare ya," the voice continued, picking up Kyra's notebook, handing it back to her.

"Thanks…" Kyra said slowly, looking up to see where the high-pitched, overly excited voice had come from. The voice came from a girl who was around Kyra's age. She was short and had cropped, pixie-like blonde hair streaked with bubblegum pink.

"I'm Staar," the girl said smiling, "I work in the bookstore and I see you around all the time, but you never really socialize with anyone, so I hope you don't mind I came out to chat, I'm on my break and its completely like a crypt in there…"

Kyra couldn't help but smile, Staar was quite the intrigue, "please, have a seat," she said nicely. Shutting the notebook she looked back up at Staar, "I'm Kyra."

Kyra and Staar chatted for a bit, turns out they had a bunch in common. They were both going to be seniors at La Brea, Staar was not originally from California, and they both were cynics on love. Though why Kyra was the 'keep them all away' kind of girl, Staar was the 'bring 'em on I don't mind flirting with everyone' kind of girl. Staar had invited Kyra to go with her to a club that night, Jupiter Moon. Kyra protested to the best of her ability, but Staar won her over. Which left the rest of the day for Kyra to stress over the fact he had absolutely nothing to wear…

Kyra was walking home from the bookstore after Staar had gone back to work and she decided, as she contemplated being a hermit for the rest of her life, to be more like her new party buddy. To be outgoing and fun, she was stuck where she was, she should just enjoy it. She wasn't talking of becoming a party animal or anything, but just maybe going out to more social places, talking to people instead of walking the other way. Back home in Florida she wasn't necessarily popular, but many people liked her and she was invited to go everywhere, _but that was a different life…_

Kyra hadn't felt the same since she had gone through all of her grandmother's belongings. Her grandmother was such a pack rat it wasn't even funny. Old photos and clothes that looked like they belonged in movies where just the first things Kyra thought were odd. There were books written in Latin, random diaries that sounded more like fiction books, and a very creepy necklace that Kyra was both drawn to and repelled against. It sat on her dresser, to beautiful to give away, but to intimidating to wear.

Kyra was lost in her thoughts when she got the sudden feeling she was being followed. It was the same feeling she had been getting a lot lately. She looked in the store window, pretending to be a prospective shopper, and used the reflections to see if she saw anyone suspicious. She didn't. She took a deep breath and turned to continue on her way when not ten steps in front of her was someone watching her. Not just someone, _some people._ There were three of them. Two guys and one half nakedly dressed girl. All three were gothed out, but only one was intimidating. He had piercing eyes that threatened to hold Kyra in their gaze for eternity. An impatient person walking by had stumbled into her, tearing her gaze from the mysterious group. Kyra took this advantage to duck into the nearest store. When she looked out, they were gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Message from Chrissy: **you lucky ducks had two updates in a row last time, so here's to trying to keep up the streak! The previous chapter was actually supposed to be completely different, so I had to change my mind on what to make happen when Kyra goes out with Staar to my version of Planet Bang, Jupiter Moon. Enjoy and critique or make fun of whatever floats your fictional boat. I apologize for the short length of this chapter, the next is nearly done and it takes place the next day so I didn't want to just throw it in with this one.

**Disclaimer / rating:** this is probably where it will get T for Teen; she is going out clubbing and all. But I'm writing this before the chapter which I should probably not do so we'll just have to wait and see. I will now do my grammar disclaimer of "I am very bad with grammar." Okay, not _very_ bad but bad enough to cause issues when I try to put coherent sentences together. You have been warned. I do not own DOTM or any of the real characters, I am only borrowing one or three characters haven't decided yet and I already killed one of them in case you didn't catch on in the first chapter, Vanessa from the original series is Kyra's grandmother – dramatic gasp here -

Now I give you PART FOUR

--

Kyra waited nervously outside of Jupiter Moon. She had splurged on a new outfit on the way home, after the encounter with the creepy Goths. Okay, so "new" and "splurged" were exaggerations. Maybe substitute with "used" and "cheap" instead. She had stopped at a thrift shop and found a cute outfit costing only 10.75. She was very proud of herself for her shopping accomplishment. She wore something she had rarely ever worn (except when she was forced to go out by Reese to parties) and that was club clothes. She wore a blue tank top and a black skirt with blue glitter scattered about, paired with her favorite pair of boots and some eyeliner, she was set to go.

"You showed" a voiced screeched from behind, "and don't you clean up nice!"

"Hey Staar," Kyra said, unable to keep a smile from forming on her lips. Staar looked like a pixie on crack, not in the drug addict way, but in the overly colorful way. She had a black tube top on with a neon pink fishnet over shirt and black mini skirt, complemented more by thigh high pink and black striped socks and knee high boots. Staar was also covered, head to toe, in glitter.

"What are you doing?" Staar said, beginning to laugh, "_We_ don't wait in line here," she said, almost smugly. Staar pulled Kyra alongside the line and she tried hard to avoid glances of pissed off patrons waiting in line. "Heath, this is Kyra, she's with me. Kay?" she said smiling and turned to Kyra, "this is my friend Heath, he is in charge of entertainment at the club, he also gets a say in who gets in and out." Kyra didn't have a chance to smile at the handsome Heath before quickly being ushered away.

"So I take it you come here a lot?" Kyra yelled to Staar over the music.

"Every other night or so, yeah," Staar said quickly, leading Kyra through the dark entrance way and into the overly crowded club.

--

The club was overwhelming. It was packed with people, only the few areas far from the dance floor had any space, and that's where all of the drug users and serious partiers hung out, according to Staar. There was a fog machine, laser lights, and loud music, what more could Kyra ask for as a distraction?

Kyra followed Staar into the sea of people, thankful for the fact that she was wearing bright pink and could be seen, despite the strobe light effect. Staar pulled Kyra in further and they began to dance. The pulse of the music was fast and exciting; a techno beat with heavy bass rhythms. Staar began to laugh and turned Kyra the other way, gesturing to a group of people hanging in the shadows, "I think he's watching you," she said over the music.

Kyra focused on the area to see whom Staar was talking about, "Shit," she said quietly. It was the guy from outside the shop, one of the three that had thoroughly crept her out. Kyra couldn't think of what to do so she tried to evade, pulling Staar and herself further into the crowd of sweating hormones.

"Aw your no fun! Didn't want to let him have a look? Oh well, let's find one more your type then!" Staar joked, oblivious to how tense Kyra had gotten. The music continued and Kyra kept looking over her shoulder, she had lost him, _maybe he left…_ she thought to herself. Maybe, for once, she could be _that_ lucky.

"Mind if I cut in?" a voice asked dangerously close to her. Kyra looked to see who it was, but no one was there. Great, she was imagining things, _good news for Dr. Richen! Staar had begun dancing with oddly-colored-mohawk-boy so Kyra excused herself out of the crowd to get a drink, she figured she just must have been dehydrated, a good alternative for crazy in her opinion._

"Sprite please?" she asked and quickly took one of the few empty stools. This was a sixteen and up club, she highly doubted asking for a Sprite would have been odd. The girl behind the counter simply nodded and slid her a can of lemon-limey goodness. Kyra tapped the top of her can and popped the top open, and of course, with her luck, it was a can that had been shaken. Kyra put the can on the counter and looked for a napkin, of which there were none. Kyra sighed and dried her hands on her skirt, scowling at herself for having such horrible predictably bad luck.

"Never seen you around here before…" a voice said beside Kyra, she could almost hear the smile on his lips. Kyra looked up, expecting to see the creepy guy, but the only person there was a girl who looked about fifteen flirting with some guy who looked way to old for her. Kyra quickly looked away and pushed herself up from the counter and off of the barstool, walking along the edge of the crowd to see if she could spot Staar.

"Find me yet?" the voice whispered in her ear. Kyra controlled herself from spinning around and looking like a complete idiot who was hearing things. She concentrated and continued to look for Staar. "I know you can hear me, I can see it on your face," the voice said smoothly. Kyra had finally found Staar, in the middle of the crowd, dancing with a different guy. Seeing as Staar was busy, Kyra decided she would talk to her tomorrow and just leave. Quickly she made her way back to the entrance and walked out.

--


	5. Chapter 5

**Message from Chrissy: **poor paranoid Kyra, hearing voices. So sad. This next chapter will maybe answer a question or two, just thought I would warn you ahead of time. Enjoy and comment!

**Disclaimer / rating:** I don't own DOTM and most of the places/people/etc. are things that occurred to me while listening to The Cab (you should listen to them too!). There may be language of the Teen nature and other things one not in high school should read (perhaps. Haven't written it yet). Also, grammar is not perfect, but it is better than in chapter one.

As requested, I give you chapter five.

--

Kyra woke up late the next morning, not to the sound of her alarm clock, but to the sound of a plate breaking. Disturbed by the commotion she walked out into the kitchen and watched her cat, a stray that Kyra had grown to love as her own, carefully step between shards of fallen china. "How did you-" Kyra began to say when she saw the open window above the sink. Kyra froze. Her father was in Chicago for the next week and no one else could get into the house to open the window, not even her grandfather had a key. Kyra took the long way around the shards and closed the window. She picked up Narcissus and gave the cat a pouty face, "I love you, but you aren't supposed to come inside!" Kyra said then made a decision, her father had never said no to a pet, well, not exactly anyways. "Fine, you can stay…" she just couldn't say no to that sad calico's eyes.

Kyra put the cat down and he immediately began to explore the house. Kyra made a note to get a litter box after she went to register for her classes. Kyra looked back at the shards, _why was the window open?_ she thought to herself. It made no sense, she didn't even come into the kitchen after she got home from Jupiter Moon. To many things had been freaking her out lately, Kyra decided just to forget about it, she must have left it ajar during the morning. She picked up the broom from beside the refrigerator and swept up all of the glass, dumping it all into the trashcan when she was finished.

Kyra glanced up at the clock that hung above the tiny dining table; it had been shut off, stuck at 12:00. Kyra muttered to herself and went into the living room, the clock on the cable box had been shut off too, 12:03 blinked in mocking orange numbers. _The electricity must have gone out while I was asleep._ Kyra sighed and walked up the stairs to her bedroom. She liked that all of the 'social rooms' were downstairs, the living room, kitchen, dining area, while the 'personal rooms' were upstairs – her dad's master bedroom (complete with his own bathroom), her bedroom, an upstairs bathroom, a guest room, and a linen closet. Their house sounded bigger than it was, but it wasn't anything to complain about. Kyra's alarm clock lay on the floor, _weird_, she thought to herself, _must've knocked it off when it rang._ She picked it up and laid it on the nightstand, it had also been turned off, unplugged from the wall, _that doesn't happen when the electricity goes out…_ When she plugged it back in the bright pink numbers flashed 12:04 AM.

"Narcissus!" Kyra yelled when the cat jumped onto her bed and began to nest on her pillows, "you just got house privileges, you think you own the place already?" She shook her head and walked over to her dresser pulling out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, throwing them onto the bed. She eyed the cat, "don't you think about getting your hair on those clothes," she said mocking a threatening tone. The cat disregarded her and continued to curl around in the pillows, finally curling up into a ball. Kyra sighed and walked out of her room to the bathroom to take a shower.

As the steam filled the room, Kyra couldn't help but feel intoxicated by the humidity. Too many weird things had been happening since coming to California that left Kyra yearning for home. She had stopped receiving the ritual phone calls from her friends, which they blamed on the time difference, which made Kyra feel ostracized from her old east coast life. After Kyra had finished her shower, she wrapped herself in a towel and made her way back to her room. The house seemed noticeably lighter, _I'm probably just aware now…_ Kyra calmed herself; more often than not fear was something that she tended to create for no real reason, a habit that needed breaking.

Kyra's door was closed, she hadn't closed it, or had she? Kyra was so distracted lately, now it was becoming a problem. She opened her door slowly. Narcissus was still curled up on her pillow, her clothes lay on the bed, but her alarm clock was on the floor again. _Damn cat_, Kyra scolded inwardly, _Narcissus must have knocked it off… _Kyra proceeded to quickly get dressed, reminded that she had things to do today.

She checked her reflection in the full-length mirror on the back of her door. She was plain, no doubt about it. She wore a solid aqua colored t-shirt and jeans matched with black sandals. She threw on a pair on sunglasses and a black cabbie hat that would cover up the fact that she didn't want to spend time drying her hair. She shoved her driver's license (still Florida issued), her state ID (California issued), and her bankcard into her pocket. She pulled out her most used purse and hunted through it, able to scrounge up about ten dollars in cash, she put what paper money she had in her other pocket as well as some money for the bus, just in case she didn't want to walk home. She almost forgot her cell phone, the slim black phone sat on her dresser next to the clock, turned off. No wonder she hadn't gotten up, her cell phone was her backup alarm. She snatched up the cell and shoved it into her back pocket after pressing the power button to turn it on.

Kyra quickly jogged down the stairs, turning off the lights as she went, _no need to waste electricity._ She grabbed her keys from the table by the front door and took a quick look behind her to make sure everything was off. Satisfied that everything was as it was supposed to be, Kyra opened the front door and walked outside. As soon as she reached the bottom of the porch she laughed at herself as she immediately turned and walked back up the stairs. "I almost forgot," she muttered to herself as she slid her key in the door and turned it to lock, "much better…"

"Going somewhere?" A voice asked from behind her. Kyra froze. She knew that voice, knew it all to well. It was the voice that haunted her in her nightmares, the voice she heard at the club. She could sense someone behind her, hear the steps on the stairs, _one….two…three steps_… She heard another step, coming closer to her, behind her now. "Breathe Kyra," she heard the velvety voice, sinister and seductive, lightly command. Up until that point, Kyra had not realized she was holding her breath and slowly, ever so slowly, she let it out. Kyra took a deep breath and pulled her key from the door and slid it in her pocket. Slowly, she turned around to find the person to be much closer than she expected him to be, making her take an instinctive step backwards, causing her to press up against the door.

The two stood in silence for a moment and Kyra took the opportunity to comprehend the situation. Then it hit her. It was _him_. It was one of the guys that had crept her out the day before. He had luminescent blue eyes that were hid only partially by shaggy blonde bangs. He wore all black and stood nonchalantly as he seemed to asses her as well. Before she could speak, he spoke again, "I'm Stanton." Kyra said nothing, just reminded herself to breathe. She had never let herself get caught to off guard before. It took only a second for Kyra to remember that she had to get out of there, away from him, she wasn't sure why, but she knew she had to.

"Not interested," she said quickly and passed him, nearly jumping down the stairs of her porch. She didn't look back but rather just continued walking. Four houses later, she looked back and he was gone.


End file.
